Number of individuals, sex, age, plumage: presumably eclipse
plumage male.
Dates: November 11, 2006
Time of Day: between 11:30 and 12:30hr
Reporting observers address: Mike Patterson
1338 Kensington Av.
Astoria, OR 97103
Other observers: none
Light conditions: bright sun originally, but then there was a thunder
storm and heavy clouds and rain.
Optical equipment: 8x42 Legend Bushnell Binoculars, 25x60 Bushnell spotting scope
Distance from bird: 100 meters
Duration of observation: off and on for about 30 minutes
Habitat: flooded pasture at the north end of Circle Creek, south of Seaside.
Behavior: feeding, swimming, sleeping with other ducks, eventually moved back into the sedgy area.
Description: Larger than Green-winged Teal, but smaller than wigeon. Overall paler than Green-winged Teal, striking facial pattern.
Head- tan ground color, dark brown crown, prominent, slightly buffy
supercillium, dark horizontal line through eye, dark vertical bar from
eye through cheek. Area forward of the vertical bar buffy (almost
yellowish with a faint darker mark and speckling. Area behind vertical
bar light brown, definitely darker than area forward of the vertical bar
Chin and throat - whitish with tan cast, little or no darker marking.
Breast - brown v-shaped marks at front. Larger darker brown sideways
v's along the sides.
I did not see an open wing and cannot describe the speculum.
Similar Species: there were many Green-winged Teal in the pond, plus
two Blue-winged Teal. One of the Blue-wings was an eclipse male with
a large whitish patch one its face at the base of its bill, but it had only a vague supercillium and was grayer looking overall. I looked over manyGreen-winged Teal as well. All were smaller, darker brown and none showed even a faint facial pattern like the described bird. It's also worth mentioning that several female mallards had similar facial markings, but also were much larger and had yellowish bills.
Previous experience: None with Baikal Teal, but extensive experience
with all North American teal.
